Department for Transport

Channel Ferries: Freight

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated cost of providing extra ferries to run a freight service in the event of a no deal Brexit.

baroness sugg: This information was provided in the Secretary of State's Written Statement of 7 January, which can be found at the link below. https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-01-07/HCWS1233/

Seaborne Freight

lord myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government who werethe external advisers appointed to conduct due diligence on Seabourne Freight and that company’s owners and management in advance of the Government entering into a contract with that firm; what was the scope of that work; and how much was paid in feesfor such work.

baroness sugg: The advisers concerned are Slaughter & May (legal advice), Deloitte UK (financial advice) and Mott MacDonald (technical assurance). The contracts remain live, so it is not yet possible to determine the total of fees paid.

Cycling: Accidents

baroness mcintosh of pickering: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to take steps to ensure that deaths and injuries of pedestrians caused by cyclists are treated in the same way as those caused by motorised vehicles; and if so, what are those steps.

baroness sugg: In August last year the Government consulted on proposals for new offences of causing death or serious injury while cycling. The consultation considered greater parity of sentencing between cyclists and drivers where people whose cycling behaviour results in harm to others. The consultation closed on 5 November and responses are currently being analysed.

Passenger Ships: Safety

lord berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the impact assessment conducted by the Marine and Coastguard Agency Bringing Safety Requirements in key areas on all Passenger Vessels on Domestic Voyages in line with modern Technical Standards (IADfT00400), dated 13 July 2018, why they have not provided comment on whether the implementation of revised standards for old and new vessels goes beyond minimum EU standards; and whether they intend to provide a comparison with EU standards.

baroness sugg: The technical standards for seagoing passenger ships constructed of steel or equivalent materials are contained within EU Directive 2009/45 (as amended by 2010/36 and 206/844). Seagoing passenger vessels which are certified against this Directive are not in scope of the proposed regulatory changes that are the subject of IA DfT00400. These vessels will remain under the requirements of the Directive and will not be affected by the outcome of the ongoing consultation. The seagoing passenger vessels in scope of the proposed regulatory changes, that are the subject of IA DfT00400, are not constructed of steel or aluminium. These vessels are not within scope of the EU Directive, as such the consultation impact assessment, IA DfT00400, does not include a comparison between the proposed revised standards and minimum EU standards.

Roads: Accidents

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many road accidents in the last three years have been caused, in whole or in part, by vehicles hitting badgers; and how many such accidents have resulted in (1) deaths, and (2) serious injuries.

baroness sugg: The Department does not hold information on what kind of animal is involved in road accidents. The closest data we hold on this is the number of reported road accidents where ‘animal in carriageway’ is recorded as a carriageway hazard. This covers all animals (except ridden horses). This data is available by accident severity in Great Britain in 2015 to 2017 and is shown in the following table. YearFatalSeriousSlightAll accidents2015485521610201661024485562017489384477   Source: DfT Stats19  Please note that the number of serious accidents provided is as reported by the police. Since 2016, changes in severity reporting systems for a large number of police forces mean that serious injury figures, and to a lesser extent slight injuries, are not comparable with earlier years.

Cabinet Office

National Insurance: Foreign Nationals

lord hodgson of astley abbotts: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the difference between (1) the number ofNational Insurance numbers issued to non-UK nationals, and (2) total immigration to the UK in the lastfive years.

lord young of cookham: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. Dear Lord Hodgson,As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the difference between (1) the number of National Insurance numbers issued to non-UK nationals, and (2) total immigration to the UK in the last five years (HL12534).The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes migration statistics and in 2016, looked at the differences between long term international migration (LTIM) figures and the allocation of national insurance numbers (NINos) to EU nationals and published papers about their findings[1]and the next steps[2].The LTIM estimates produced by ONS are in line with the United Nations definition of a long-term migrant; intending to stay for at least 12 months. NINos are issued to people who come to the UK to work or look for work, regardless of the length of stay. NINos may therefore include short-term migrants (those entering the UK for less than 12 months) who will not be included in LTIM estimates. LTIM estimates will include people (such as students) who come to the UK for reasons other than work and don’t register for a NINo, so are not included in NINo data.Further publications about improving the evidence[3] and the migration statistics transformation programme[4] include further information about how ONS is developing the evidence base on migration. Understanding the differences between data sources is an important part of our analysis within that programme and ONS will report further in due course.Yours sincerely,John Pullinger[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/methodologies/differencesbetweeninternationalpassengersurveyandnationalinsurancenumberstatisticsasshowninthemigrationstatisticsquarterlyreport[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/noteonthedifferencebetweennationalinsurancenumberregistrationsandtheestimateoflongterminternationalmigration/2016[3]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/internationalmigrationdataandanalysisimprovingtheevidence/february2017[4]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/migrationstatisticstransformationupdate/2018-05-24

Brexit

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants are currently employed primarily to deliver Brexit.

lord young of cookham: The Government is equipping itself with the right people with the right skills for the UK to successfully exit the European Union. There are almost 11,000 people now working on EU exit related policy and programmes across government. Workforce plans will continually be reviewed to ensure the Civil Service can respond to emerging capacity and capability requirements as we accelerate preparations.

Ministers: Peers

lord balfe: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were ennobled on their appointment as ministers in the Parliaments of (1) 2001–05, (2) 2005–10, (3) 2010–15, (4) 2015–17, and (5) 2017 to date; and how long each of those ministers served as ministers broken down by (a) zero to six months, (b) six months to one year, (c) one year to 18 months, (d) 18 months to two years, and (e) longer than two years.

lord young of cookham: The following table shows the number of individuals who were ennobled on their appointment as a minister and how long those ministers served in Government: ParliamentTotal no of individualsLength of service in Government0-6 months6 months to 1 year1 year to 18 months18 months to 2 yearsMore than 2 yearsOngoing2001-20051----1-2005-201010-22-6-2010-20154---13-2015-20174--1-3-2017 to date3-----3

Rifles: Crime

lord lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many crimes recorded in the last five years for which data are available involved the use of rifles; and in each case, (1) what types of rifles were involved, (2)how such rifles were obtained, and (3)what types of crime such rifles were used to commit.

lord lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many crimes recorded in the last five years for which data are available involved the use of blades; and in each case, (1) what types of blades were involved, (2) how such blades were obtained, and (3) what types of crime such blades were used to commit.

lord young of cookham: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. Dear Lord Lucas,As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Questions asking (a) how many crimes recorded in the last five years for which data are available involved the use of rifles; and in each case, (i) what types of rifles were involved, (ii) how such rifles were obtained, and (iii) what types of crime such rifles were used to commit (HL12712); and (b) how many crimes recorded in the last five years for which data are available involved the use of blades; and in each case, (i) what types of blades were involved, (ii) how such blades were obtained, and (iii) what types of crime such blades were used to commit (HL12713).Although the data are collected by the Home Office, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes figures on the number of offences recorded by the police involving the use of firearms (including rifles) and knives or sharp instruments.Table 1 shows the number of offences recorded by the police in England and Wales involving the use of a rifle, in each of the latest five years that data are currently available. These data were published across several releases, the latest of which being Table 9 of the ‘Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables’[1] release for the year ending March 2017. Data for the year ending March 2018 are due to be published on 7 February 2019.Table 2 shows the latest available data on the number of offences recorded by the police in England and Wales involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument. To provide a consistent time-series, these data exclude offences recorded by Greater Manchester Police, who recently uncovered a technical issue affecting their recording of offences involving knives and sharp instruments. These data were published alongside the ‘Crime in England and Wales: year ending June 2018’ bulletin in Table F3a of ‘Other related tables’[2].The police recorded knife or sharp instrument offences data are submitted to the Home Office via an additional special collection. This special collection includes the offences: homicide; attempted murder; threats to kill; assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm; robbery; rape; and sexual assault. Although not all offences are included, those selected are thought to cover most offences involving a knife or sharp instrument.Data are not available in relation to the type of rifle or knife or sharp instrument that was involved in the offences recorded by the police or how the weapon had been obtained by the perpetrator(s).Yours sincerely,John Pullinger  Table 1: Offences recorded by the police in England and Wales in which rifles were reported to have been used, by offence group, year ending March 2013 to year ending March 2017[3],[4]  YearOffence groupApr ’12 to Mar ‘13Apr ’13 to Mar ‘142Apr ’14 to Mar ‘15Apr ’15 to Mar ‘16Apr ’16 to Mar ‘17  Homicide01021Attempted murder, assault with intent to cause serious harm and endangering life25526Other violence against the person67668Robbery915885Burglary12002Public fear, alarm or distress32452Possession of weapons1015191620Other offences, excluding criminal damage42233Criminal damage858614  All offences4354524861 Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office  Table 2: Selected violent and sexual offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by the police in England and Wales (excluding Greater Manchester Police), year ending March 2014 to year ending June 2018[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12]  YearSelected violent / sexual offence groupApr ’13 to Mar ‘14Apr ’14 to Mar ‘15Apr ’15 to Mar ‘16Jul ’16 to Jun ‘17Jul ’17 to Jun ‘18  Attempted murder226258328367316Threats to kill1,2331,5642,0602,6892,967Assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm10,91512,30914,24717,72818,402Robbery11,0519,5899,83213,56216,801Rape234285310406421Sexual assault92120105169162  Total selected offences23,75124,12526,88234,92139,069  Homicide194179199213263  Total selected offences, including homicide23,94524,30427,08135,13439,332 Source: Police recorded crime, Home Office [1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/offencesinvolvingtheuseofweaponsdatatables[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesotherrelatedtables[3]Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.[4]Since publication of this year’s data (12 February 2015), one additional firearm offence involving the use of a rifle has been recorded. This is not included in this table as an updated offence type breakdown for this year has not been published.[5]Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.[6]Police recorded crime statistics for offences involving a knife or sharp instrument based on data from 43 police forces in England and Wales. Data from Greater Manchester Police are excluded. A review of GMP data has identified undercounting of crimes involving a knife or sharp instrument. This occurred due to a technical issue with the identification and extraction of all relevant records of these offences from their crime recording system. GMP have changed the methodology they use to extract knife or sharp instrument offences and data from December 2017 onwards have been revised. However, data for earlier periods have not been revised and are likely to exclude relevant crimes that were recorded in GMP. Due to these changes, data for GMP have been excluded from the time series.[7]Police recorded knife and sharp instrument offences data presented in this table are submitted via an additional special collection. Other offences exist that are not shown in this table that may include the use of a knife or sharp instrument.[8]Data from Surrey Police include unbroken bottle and glass offences, which are outside the scope of this special collection; however, it is not thought that offences of this kind constitute a large enough number to impact on the national figure.[9]An audit of Thames Valley Police into the recording of knife and sharp instrument offences since the introduction of their new recording system in April 2014 has revealed that they were previously under-counting these offences. Data for the year ending March 2016 have been revised, but data for the year ending March 2015 have not.[10]Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Police forces have implemented new crime recording systems and therefore data for the latest period may be under-recorded.[11]Sexual assault includes indecent assault on a male/female and sexual assault on a male/female (all ages).[12]Homicide offences are those currently recorded by the police as at 11 September 2018 and are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. These figures are taken from the detailed record level Homicide Index (rather than the main police collection for which forces are only required to provide an overall count of homicides).

Immigration: Statistics

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatplans they have, if any, to work with social media companies to gather migration data when compiling official immigration statistics.

lord young of cookham: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. Dear Lord Taylor,As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking what plans there are, if any, to work with social media companies to gather migration data when compiling official immigration statistics (HL12724).The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing migration statistics for the United Kingdom. ONS has recently set out an ambitious programme of work to transform migration statistics[1], to better understand the impact of migration on local areas and reduce reliance on surveys. The programme is initially focusing on sources from within government bodies, using new data sharing powers approved by Parliament. The programme recognises the potential value of alternative data sources and the intention is to explore these as we progress.Yours sincerely,John Pullinger [1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/articles/migrationstatisticstransformationupdate/2018-05-24

Department for Exiting the European Union

Brexit

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that a no-deal Brexit could have on (1) the UK digital technology and robotics industry, and(2) operations at UK ports.

lord callanan: This government has been clear that we do not want or expect a ‘no deal’ scenario. Delivering the settlement negotiated with the EU remains our top priority and is the best way of avoiding a no deal scenario. This has not changed.As part of contingency planning, Government has been discussing the potential impact of the UK leaving the EU with key stakeholders in the UK digital technology and robotics industry and at key border locations including ports. As a result, a ‘Partnership Pack’ has been issued to provide a guide to processes and procedures that are likely to apply to cross-border activity between the UK and the EU in a no deal scenario.

Brexit

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any ministerial directions have been issued since 1 January 2018 in respect of preparing for a no deal Brexit; if so what were those directions; and in each case, who was the minister responsible.

lord callanan: Since 1 January 2018, DExEU ministers have issued no ministerial directions in respect of preparing for a no deal Brexit.

Brexit: Contracts

lord adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many contracts for no deal Brexit preparations have been awarded to (1) McKinsey, (2) Boston Consulting Group, (3) Bain and Company, (4) PwC, (5) KPMG, and (6) EY since 1 January 2018; what was the value of each of any such contracts; and which departments have been responsible for issuing any such contracts.

lord callanan: The Department has not awarded any contracts to the firms in question where the sole purpose of the engagement was no deal planning.

Brexit: Statutory Instruments

lord bassam of brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to complete the passage of all outstanding statutory instruments relating to Brexit before 29 March 2019; and if not, what istheirproposed timetable for completion.

lord callanan: The Government remains confident that all required SIs will be brought forward in time for exit day.

Brexit

lord bassam of brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to suspend Article 50 in the event that Parliament rejectsthe current Brexit deal.

lord callanan: The Government’s firm policy remains that we will not extend or revoke the Article 50 notice. As a result, we will be leaving the European Union on 20 March 2019.